Odd question...does green egg give you green egg?

[erinlee]

Ok, probably an odd question. The general contractor building our house is constantly bringing us fresh eggs from his chickens. That is what got me started on this chicken bandwagon to begin with. He has a mixed flock, with roosters so I'm pretty confident the eggs are fertile although I've never checked. Once in a while he brings us some nice pretty green eggs. I've resisted the urge to put any of his eggs in the bator so far...but I'm thinking the next time he brings me one or more of those pretty green eggs I'm going to go for it.

So my question is... if I incubate and hatch out one of those green eggs...will I end up with a hen that will also lay green eggs? Or is it just a gamble really? He said he doesn't have any roosters of that type, so the eggs are not pure breed.

 

[LarryPQ]

It depends. Chickens only lay 2 colors: White and blue. The other colors come from a "spray painting" process that happens later, which is varying shades of brown.

So if the rooster came from a white egg, the offspring could lay lighter green eggs.

If the rooster came from a brown egg, the offspring could lay olive green eggs.

If the rooster came from a blue or green egg, the offspring could lay a blue-green egg.

It depends on the roo's PARENTS' genetics.

 

[LarryPQ]

Here is a better explination I wrote up a little while ago.

Chickens only lay eggs in 2 colors: blue and white.

Some chickens "spray paint" the eggies on the way out of the chute. This color is brown.

So any eggs not blue or white have been---in one way or another---been "misted" with brown.


So:
Tinted eggs= white + light spray paint
Brown eggs= white + heavy spray paint
green eggs = blue+spray paint
olive eggs = blue + heavy spray paint​

 

[erinlee]

That's great information and very interesting, I did not know that. Thanks so much!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree. It is a gamble on what you will get, depending on which genes the rooster conributes and which the hen contributes. There is more than one gene involved, but to simplify lets assume only one gene is involved. The gene for the blue-green eggs is actually a blue egg gene. If it is crossed with a brown gene, you get green eggs. If she did not have a brown gene contributing, her eggs would be blue. So her "gene" pair is brown-blue. The rooster does not have any blue genes, so assume he has brown-brown. The offspring will get a brown gene from the rooster and will either get a blue or brown gene from the mother. If it were this simple, half the female offspring would lay brown eggs and half would lay green eggs.

It is not this simple since there are more than one set of genes involved and you don't know what the rooster has. He may actually have some white genes in there instead of all brown, or should I say genes that eliminate the spray paint. The blue gene seems to follow the pea comb gene too, so if the offspring has a pea comb, your odds of a colored egg go way up. No guarantees, but that pea comb is a real encouragement.

If you put green eggs in the bator, you have a chance to get a hen that lays a greenish or bluish egg. If you do not put green eggs on the bator, you do not have that chance.

LareePQG, you might want to add a couple of lines to your explanation for completeness. I like your explanation, BTW.

White eggs = white + no spray paint
Blue eggs = blue + no spray paint

 

[LarryPQ]

Quote:
If I were smart, I would keep this explination in a word doc somewhere, so I wouldn't have to type it out or search for the old post each time....Someday....